The world’s richest Jew, Oracle Corp. chief technology officer Larry Ellison, briefly surpassed Tesla CEO Elon Musk Wednesday as the richest man in the world.

Ellison’s elevation following a surge in Oracle stock marked the first time that a Jewish billionaire topped Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. After a better-than-expected earnings report, his estimated wealth rose by $89 billion in the largest one-day increase ever recorded, but by the end of the day, Musk, who has long held the top spot, regained his top ranking by $1 billion.

Ellison, 81, has long consistently edged out Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as the wealthiest Jew in the world. He is the largest shareholder the software company that he cofounded in 1977.

Ellison was raised in a Reform Jewish home by his adoptive parents, and famously refused to have a bar mitzvah because Hebrew school conflicted with his baseball practice. He has also been a major donor to the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces.

In 2019, Ellison also donated to an excavation project in east Jerusalem that received criticism from Palestinians as well as Israeli peace activists. Two years later, Ellison reportedly offered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a post on the board of directors of the company.

Ellison is currently worth $383.2 billion, compared to Musk’s $384.2 billion, according to Bloomberg.

The Jewish lawmaker who followed Jerry Seinfeld on stage during an appearance at Duke University on Tuesday is decrying the comedian’s comments, in which he said pro-Palestinian protesters were worse than the Ku Klux Klan.

“I condemn Seinfeld’s horrific comments, which I’ve made clear to his team and to the event sponsors,” Sophia Chitlik, a Democratic North Carolina state senator, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I’m dismayed that his comments undermined the intention of this event, which sought to deescalate hateful rhetoric and uplift our shared humanity through a compassionate conversation about Omer Shem Tov’s spiritual journey during the sacred month of Elul.”

Chitlik interviewed Shem Tov, a freed Israeli hostage who was kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, during the event organized by Chabad at Duke. The event was also sponsored by Duke’s provost office and Center for Jewish Studies; its center for Jewish life; and pro-Israel advocacy groups with campus branches.

Seinfeld introduced Shem Tov. During his remarks, the comedian stated, “Free Palestine is, to me, just — you’re free to say you don’t like Jews. Just say you don’t like Jews.” 

Seinfeld, a Duke father whose youngest son is currently enrolled, continued, “Compared to the Ku Klux Klan, I’m actually thinking the Klan is actually a little better here because they can come right out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ OK, that’s honest.” His remarks were reported by the student newspaper.

Seinfeld’s appearance was a surprise; his participation had not been publicized beforehand. (His wife, the cookbook author and pro-Israel advocate Jessica Seinfeld, had commented positively on the Chabad’s Instagram page prior to the event.) Only Duke students, staff and faculty were permitted to attend.

Some students immediately criticized Seinfeld’s comments and distanced themselves from his sentiment.

“Free Palestine is obviously not at all comparable to the Ku Klux Klan. I’m really just honestly nauseated,” one student, Noah Jacobs, told a local news station. Just wanted to bring my voice as a Jewish student to say, really, this is something we care about.”

Mason Herman, a Duke senior and student president of its Chabad, told NBC News that the group was not responsible for an invited speaker’s remarks.

“This event was highlighting the fact that there are more than 40 hostages still in Gaza,” he said. “To one, raise awareness of that fact, and, two, to share their plight while in captivity. And to share Omer’s story.”

Requests for comment to representatives of Chabad at Duke, the school’s Center for Jewish Studies, and Jewish Life at Duke were not immediately returned.  A university spokesperson told the student paper that Seinfeld had “requested his appearance not be announced beforehand, given Omer Shem Tov’s experiences were the focus of the event.”

The spokesperson added, “Duke does not preview the remarks of speakers who are invited to campus, and the invitation of speakers to campus does not imply any endorsement of their remarks.”

Seinfeld has a longstanding relationship with Duke. His daughter Sascha, now a reporter for Bari Weiss’ news outlet The Free Press, is an alum, as is his older son, who was graduating when Seinfeld delivered the school’s commencement address last year, at the height of the pro-Palestinian campus encampment movement. Some students protested Seinfeld’s appearance over his pro-Israel views, and several walked out on his speech.

The comic, typically known for wry, observational humor, has become noticeably more outspoken on Israel and antisemitism since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. He told Weiss in an emotional interview last year that visiting Israel in the aftermath was “the most powerful experience of my life,” adding that when he had made his hit show “Seinfeld” in the 1990s, he thought that antisemitism was “seemingly a relic of history books.”

On Instagram after the Oct. 7 attacks, Seinfeld said he had lived and worked on a kibbutz in Israel as a teenager.

Chitlik, who was elected last year, has longstanding ties to Israel as well as to the local Jewish community in Durham and progressive Jewish movements. She is on the board of Durham’s Conservative synagogue and was recognized as a young leader by the local Jewish federation in 2021. Her career has included stints at the Jewish social action nonprofit Repair the World, organizing for Democratic candidates and consulting with companies and nonprofits, including in Israel.

Recounting his captivity during his talk, Shem Tov said he believed that Hamas had been intentionally withholding aid to others in Gaza and that he would frequently speak to God, asking, “Why me? Why me?” He urged those in attendance to direct their prayers toward one or two hostages each, saying from his own experience, “You can feel it.”

As a Jewish woman, public health professional and advocate, New Yorker and mother, I feel the fear coursing through our community. Antisemitic violence is rising, and Jews across the country increasingly report feeling unsafe. A survey by the American Jewish Committee found that nearly half of American Jews feel less secure today than just a year ago.

At the same time, political violence is escalating. On Wednesday, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated while hosting a campus event — the latest killing in a troubling rise in shootings targeting people across the political spectrum. In May, two Jewish professionals were gunned down leaving an event at the Jewish Capitol Museum in Washington, D.C. And in August, the shooter in the Minneapolis school mass shooting had scrawled antisemitic writings across the assault weapon — a chilling reminder of how deeply intertwined gun violence and hate have become in America.

Regardless of motive, these tragedies reveal the same truth: when dangerous rhetoric collides with easy access to guns, violence follows. More guns will not make us safer — they will only perpetuate this cycle.

My own path into this work began in the Jewish community after the Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting in 2012. I joined my synagogue’s social justice committee, which mobilized to advocate for safe storage laws in New York. That preventable tragedy also struck close to home: a colleague at my law firm had a young son who survived the Sandy Hook shooting. The horror of that day rocked their family, our community, and the entire nation — and propelled me to deepen my advocacy. I went on to lead my synagogue committee, serve on a gun violence prevention committee at the JCRC, and ultimately shift my career from law to advocacy. Today, I serve as executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. For me, Jewish identity and the fight to end gun violence have always been deeply connected.

Understandably, Jews (and many others) may feel afraid and powerless during these tumultuous and divisive times. History teaches us that in periods of crisis and conflict, fear drives people to seek control and protection. But firearms add volatility to already stressful situations — domestic, civil, and personal. Jewish Americans have long recognized this: In 2018, 70% said it was more important to control gun ownership than to broaden gun rights, according to the American Jewish Committee’s Survey of American Jewish Opinion. In 2022, the Jewish Electorate Institute found that 77% of Jewish voters believe gun laws are not restrictive enough — a clear recognition that fewer guns, not more, will make our communities safer.

So I am deeply concerned by recent calls for Jews to arm themselves, and signs including this week’s new report from a Jewish security group urging limits on gun-carrying in synagogues that some Jews may be heeding the calls. Safety should be an assumption, not something we buy with weapons that put our families at even greater risk.

This spring, I spoke at a summit on domestic violence in the Jewish community convened by UJA-Federation of New York. Guns came up again and again — not as protection, but as instruments of control and intimidation. Women shared how ads for firearms were appearing more frequently in their social media feeds and even in print publications, as if the gun industry were deliberately targeting Jews at a moment of heightened vulnerability. In conversations over the course of the summit, many confided that neighbors and relatives were purchasing firearms “for safety,” though in reality those families were now at greater risk. As Alex Roth-Kahn, UJA’s managing director of caring, noted at the summit, a trend toward gun ownership in homes where safety is the concern is alarming — and dangerous.

The evidence is clear: Guns don’t make us safer. They make us more vulnerable. A firearm in the home doubles the risk of homicide and triples the risk of suicide. For women in abusive relationships, access to a gun makes them five times more likely to be killed. Guns purchased for self-defense are far more likely to be used in suicide, domestic violence, or accidents than in protection.

That’s where we must invest today. Strong gun laws save lives — from keeping firearms away from people with records of violence, to requiring safe storage at home, to prohibiting guns in sensitive places like college campuses and protests. New York’s laws are strong, but we have so much more work to do at the state and national levels.

And beyond laws, we must strengthen the supports that truly keep families safe. As Roth-Kahn emphasized, that means expanding access to mental health support, domestic violence services, and crisis prevention programs, while also investing in education, bridge-building, and conflict resolution with the broader community.

Whether the violence stems from hate speech, political extremism or personal crisis, the common denominator is almost always the same: easy access to guns. Until we break that link, the cycle of violence will continue. Let’s choose a different path. Let’s protect our children, our neighbors, and ourselves by investing in life — not in more tools of violence.

Canada is “evaluating” its relationship with Israel following the country’s strikes on Hamas leadership in Qatar, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said on Wednesday.

“We are evaluating the relationship with Israel,” Anand told reporters when asked if Canada would follow the lead of the European Commission, which announced plans Wednesday to seek sanctions against Israel.

“Of course, the attack yesterday on Qatar was one that was unacceptable. It was a violation of Qatari airspace. There were deaths on the ground at a time when Qatar was trying to facilitate peace,” Anand continued. “There are many moving pieces in the Middle East right now. And at the rock bottom, Canada’s position is that we need to work for peace in the Middle East and we need to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza.”

When asked to clarify her comments, Anand replied that the government “will continue to evaluate our next steps.”

Anand’s statement marks the latest sign of discontent among the Canadian government with Israel’s conduct.

In July, Canada joined with a growing list of countries, including Australia, France, Belgium and the United Kingdom, in announcing plans to recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly this month. Canada also announced sanctions against Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, in June.

A spokesperson from Anand’s office later told CBC News that her comments were meant “in the sense that the government is constantly monitoring the situation and will continue to evaluate ways to push for a ceasefire, unrestricted humanitarian aid and the release of all hostages.”

A British lawmaker, Shockat Adam, is drawing outcry after he referred to the Israeli army’s “blood-soaked tentacles” during an address in Parliament on Wednesday.

The comment by Adam, a Malawi-born businessman and optometrist who is an independent, came as the British Parliament discussed Israel’s strikes on Hamas leadership in the Qatari capital of Doha and as Prime Minister Keir Starmer prepared to host the Israeli president.

Adam said his niece and her young daughter had been at a library blocks from the scene of the Qatar strike.

“After having witnessed the Israeli army massacre over 60,000 people in Gaza, 19,000 of whom are children, the blood-soaked tentacles of the Israeli army are now reaching closer to home, especially in my case,” said Adam, a longtime critic of Israel who decried the British government decision this week not to call Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide.”

His phrasing drew criticism from those who said he was echoing longstanding antisemitic stereotypes about Jewish power. Octopuses have been a common element in antisemitic imagery, including that of the Nazis.

“If Shockat Adam has no idea of the historical significance of language like ‘blood-soaked tentacles,’ then he’s grotesquely ignorant, and in no position to participate in this debate,” tweeted Tomos Doran, a Welsh commentator. “If he *is* aware, then he really is just a Nazi. It’s pretty much as simple as that.”

Josh Howie, a Jewish right-wing political commentator, tweeted, “Pretty sure this country, including my grandparents, fought a war so that Nazis didn’t end up in Parliament.”

Adam did not draw a rebuke on the floor of Parliament, where the antisemitic symbol has been at the center of a previous controversy. In 2010, British MP Martin Linton faced criticism for warning voters of the “long tentacles of Israel” but later issued an apology after learning of the antisemitic roots of the language.

Adam did immediately address criticism of his rhetoric, which came the same day that Israeli President Isaac Herzog was in London to meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Adam had called on Starmer to reject Herzog’s visa.

“As Israel prepares a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza [City], Starmer welcomes its president to Downing Street with open arms,” he wrote in a post on X. “History will judge this as the UK’s most shameful chapter of complicity.”

Starmer has said Britain would recognize a Palestinian state this month at the United Nations General Assembly if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire with Hamas. In advance of the visit, U.K. officials formally said they had not concluded that genocide is taking place in Gaza, inflaming critics of Israel.

Herzog and Starmer made no public appearance after their meeting. Herzog characterized the meeting as containing “tough” conversation.

“Things were said that were tough and strong, and clearly we can argue, because when allies meet, they can argue,” he said. “We are both democracies.”

This piece first ran as part of The Countdown, our daily newsletter rounding up all the developments in the New York City mayor’s race. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. There are 54 days to the election.

🕯 Mamdani pays tribute to Charlie Kirk

• Our reporter Joseph Strauss caught Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday night night at the annual gala of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, a left-wing, pro-Palestinian nonprofit. Ilana Glazer, a Jewish actor who joined a boycott of Israeli film institutions this week, introduced Mamdani and ally Brad Lander — the Jewish city comptroller who cross-endorsed him in the primary — as the night’s honorees.

• Mamdani opened his remarks with a tribute to conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University earlier in the day. “It cannot be a question of political agreement or alignment that allows us to mourn,” he said. “It must be the shared notion of humanity that binds us all.”

• Mamdani’s opponents Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Eric Adams and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa also mourned Kirk’s death and the trend of political violence in the United States in statements.

• In Mamdani’s speech, he also said his primary victory “was a lesson that so many in this city are horrified by the genocide being perpetrated by the Israeli military in Gaza, by the violence being inflicted — using weapons paid for by our tax dollars as Americans — and the suffering that we see on a daily basis.”

• The event in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn featured banners with messages including, “Jews say: No genocide, no deportations, no anti-trans hate” and “Arms embargo now.” Some attendees wore keffiyehs and shirts reading, “Not in our name.”

💰 Cuomo returns donation from a rabbi’s 5-year-old son

• Some of the campaign donations that allowed Cuomo to unlock public matching funds came from minors — including the 5-year-old son of Rabbi Marc Schneier, a close friend of Cuomo’s who regularly hosts him at his synagogue in the Hamptons.

• A donation of $250 in the boy’s name was made on March 6, allowing Cuomo to secure $2,000 in matching funds, according to records seen by the New York Daily News. A few days earlier, Schneier contributed the legal max of $2,100 to Cuomo’s campaign.

• Seeking matching funds on donations from anyone under 18 violates the Campaign Finance Board’s rules. Schneier said they recognized there was a mistake, adding that Cuomo “is like family to us” and “our son wanted to help out like mommy and daddy.”

• Cuomo’s spokesperson said the 5-year-old’s donation was being refunded and the related matching funds would also be deducted.

📊 Numbers to know

• Yet another poll yesterday showed Mamdani holding a wide lead. The Quinnipiac survey gave Mamdani 45% support among likely voters, followed by Cuomo with 23%, Sliwa with 15% and Adams with 12%.

• Quinnipiac’s results also appeared to suggest that Jewish voters strongly favor Adams. But the pollsters didn’t emphasize the finding, which would be starkly out of step with other polls of Jewish sentiment. We’re reaching out to understand better.

👀 Adams contemplates an out

• While Adams keeps saying in public that he won’t quit the race, he may be telling a different story behind closed doors.

• In a meeting with about 20 city leaders yesterday, he said he would conduct his own poll “to make a decision,” sources told NBC New York. (Eight weeks out from election day, Adams is the lowest-polling candidate in a string of surveys.)

• He also reiterated his dislike for Cuomo, whose associates have pressured Adams to drop out so that Cuomo has a better chance of beating Mamdani. But Adams told the room, “I love the city more than I dislike Andrew.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez lamented his country’s lack of “nuclear weapons” while announcing sanctions against Israel over the war in Gaza.

“Spain, as you know, doesn’t have nuclear bombs, nor aircraft carriers, nor large oil reserves,” said Sánchez in a speech posted to X earlier this week. “We alone can’t stop the Israeli offensive, but that doesn’t mean we won’t stop trying because there are causes worth fighting for even if it’s not in our sole power to win them.”

The comments have raised eyebrows among some pro-Israel voices who said Sánchez had revealed an ambition of attacking Israel. “These disgusting and inflammatory comments have violently ripped off the mask of Prime Minister Sánchez, who claims to be acting on behalf of humanitarian intentions, when his secret desire appears to be militarily attacking Israel, even with the use of weapons of mass destruction,” Sacha Roytman, CEO of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, said in a statement.

Sánchez’s comment came as he unveiled a slew of Spanish sanctions against Israel, including an arms embargo, a ban on ships carrying fuel for Israel’s armed forces from passing through Spanish ports, an increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza and a bar on entry to Spain of individuals participating in what he said was a “genocide” against Palestinians.

Israel has vehemently denied allegations of genocide as they have gained traction in recent months.

Sánchez’s announcement drew immediate condemnation from Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who wrote in a post on X that the Spanish government was “leading a hostile anti-Israeli line, with wild rhetoric dripping with hatred.” He said he was banning multiple Spanish government officials, including the deputy prime minister, Yolanda Díaz, from entering Israel.

In his speech, Sánchez also underscored his government’s support for Israel’s existence. “The Jewish people have suffered countless persecutions, deserve to have their own state, and to feel secure. That is why the Spanish government has condemned Hamas’ attacks from day one,” he said.

He also said the death toll in Gaza, which Gaza health officials say stand at about 64,000 out of a population of more than 2 million, showed that Israel’s response there was “not self-defense, it is not even an attack — it is the extermination of a defenseless people and a violation of every international law.”

The sanctions marks a new low in diplomatic ties between Spain and Israel, which curdled in May 2024 when Spain announced alongside Ireland and Norway that it would recognize Palestinian statehood. Since then, several more influential European countries have said they plan to recognize Palestinian statehood at this month’s United Nations General Assembly in New York.

No alleged shooter has yet been identified in the assassination Wednesday of right-wing icon Charlie Kirk. But President Donald Trump is blaming the left and vowing vengeance, while antisemitism is flaring among extremists online who said they believed the Jews and Israel were responsible.

“Charlie Kirk was assassinated by jews,” tweeted an account called Greatest Noticer, whose username is an apparent allusion to a neo-Nazi watchword.

“At this point does anyone not thi[nk] Charlie Kirk was assassinated by Mossad?” tweeted Ryan Matta, a podcast host with more than 200,000 followers, referring to the Israeli spy agency.

Similar allegations spread on X in the hours after the shooting in Utah, repeating a dynamic that unfolds frequently in the wake of major news events. In this case, speculation was fueled by past allegations of antisemitism against Kirk, his recent comments tying Mossad to the Jeffrey Epstein case, and the rapid response to his death by Israeli politicians.

A post from last month by Harrison Smith, a Texan who hosts on the far-right conspiracy site  Infowars, was shared widely. “I’m not gonna name names, but I was told by someone close to Charlie Kirk that Charlie thinks Israel will kill him if he turns against them,” Smith posted on Aug. 13. He stood by the comments on Wednesday.

Some of the posts appeared to potentially be from bot accounts that have proliferated on X in recent years as it relaxed moderation rules under the ownership of Elon Musk. But others were from real and influential voices, some of whom said Kirk’s recent comments about Jews and Israel may have made him a target.

“It took me about five seconds to find these and other examples of people using the Kirk shooting as an excuse for antisemitism,” tweeted Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center for Extremism, as he shared two posts.

Many right-wing Jews venerated Kirk, who considered himself a defender of Jews and Israel. (Indeed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his right-wing cabinet mourned Kirk as a friend of Israel.) Some on the Jewish right criticized those advancing antisemitic conspiracy theories about his murder, while appearing to indict anti-Israel voices in the process.

“The same people who called Charlie Kirk a ‘tool of the Jews,’ are now saying that the Mossad assassinated him,” tweeted Eyal Yakoby, an influencer who rose to prominence as a critic of antisemitism at his university. “These are sick people who will exploit a tragedy to pursue their own demonic agenda.”

“Charlie Kirk’s body isn’t even cold, and antisemitic conspiracy theorists are already blaming Mossad,” tweeted the pro-Israel influencer Eylon Levy.

Meanwhile, the situation has people across the political spectrum wondering whether Kirk’s assassination could be a “Reichstag moment,” a reference to the 1933 fire at the German parliament building that the Nazis used as a pretext to ramp up their repression of communists and ultimately their persecution and murder of Jews. (Historians have concluded that the man who confessed to setting the fire likely did so and acted alone, rather than as part of a communist conspiracy.)

“Charlie Kirk being assassinated is the American Reichstag fire,” tweeted a far-right personality named Matt Forney who boasts of having been banned from X before Musk’s takeover. “It is time for a complete crackdown on the left. Every Democratic politician must be arrested and the party banned under RICO. Every libtard commentator must be shut down.”

(Among those seeking historic parallels, some turned not to the Reichstag fire but to the assassination in 1930 of Horst Wessel, a member of the Nazi paramilitary wing. Nazis invoked him as a martyr and literally sang his praises as they rose to prominence and public office in the following years.)

Ezra Klein, the New York Times commentator, lamented Reichstag ambitions among some on the right in his column on Thursday. And Owen Jones, a British journalist with 1 million followers, shared Forney’s post as evidence of worrying signals within discourse on the right.

“The Reichstag fire was used by the Nazis to destroy all that remained of democracy, begin the liquidation of the left and legal persecution of the Jews,” he tweeted. “We don’t know who assassinated Charlie Kirk, but the Trumpian far right believe they have a perfect opportunity.”

Trump himself suggested as much in a video address Wednesday night, joining voices including Musk in blaming the shooting on the left and vowing a wide crackdown as a result.

“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” Trump said. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”

Trump said his administration would find “those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials and everyone else who brings order to our country.”

Kirk’s shooting joins a growing number of incidents of political violence in the United States that have targeted people across the political spectrum. Last month, two Democratic lawmakers were shot in Minnesota, one to death, allegedly by a right-wing extremist. In May, two Israeli embassy workers were shot to death in Washington, D.C.; a left-wing activist who allegedly shouted “Free Palestine” after the shooting has been charged with their murder.

In Utah, a manhunt was underway for Kirk’s killer. Police said they had released two people of interest without identifying anyone they believed in firing the single shot that felled him.

“Rising political violence — including those who exploit it to pit communities against one another — is among the most dire threats to our democracy and our safety,” Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, tweeted in response to Kirk’s murder. “This is utterly horrifying. And I’m terrified about what may follow.”

Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist who through more than a decade in public life expressed staunch support for Israel while at times being accused of antisemitism, is dead at 31.

He was fatally shot while speaking at a Utah university in front of a crowd of roughly 1,000.

Kirk was the CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, an influential youth organization in conservative politics. Born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, he founded the group at 18 after dropping out of college. Over the following years, he played a crucial role in galvanizing youth support for President Donald Trump and came to represent a vanguard of Christian nationalism in the United States.

Kirk frequently characterized himself as a defender of the Jews and Israel, even as he faced criticism from across the spectrum over his comments about Jews and from the Anti-Defamation League and others over his role in the mainstreaming of the far right.

Politically conservative Jewish groups mourned Kirk’s death.

“Charlie has been a shining light in these troubled times for the American Jewish community, and we are deeply saddened at his passing,” the Republican Jewish Coalition said in a statement. “All people of good will must condemn this horrific murder and demand justice for Charlie.”

Morton Klein, CEO of the Zionist Organization of America, said Kirk had recently accepted an invitation to speak at the group’s national gala later this year.

“Charlie Kirk was a great man, a personal friend and an ally who loved Israel and the Jewish people,” Klein said in a statement. “I had the pleasure of walking all over Jerusalem with him and sitting for an incredible interview with him on his radio show where for over an hour, Charlie asked great questions to better understand the Arab-Islamist war against Israel, the Jewish people and the West.”

Among the first global leaders to send their prayers following reports that Kirk had been shot was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Kirk was a vocal backer of Israel, visiting the country multiple times and more recently staunchly supporting its war in Gaza amid mounting headwinds from an isolationist wing of the Republican Party.

After visiting Israel in May 2018 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and again in 2019, Kirk described his visits to the country as eye-opening.

He told a crowd at a Jerusalem bar during his second trip: “I’m very pro-Israel, I’m an evangelical Christian, I’m a conservative, I’m a Trump supporter, I’m a Republican, and my whole life I have defended Israel.”

Kirk at times drew criticism for veering into antisemitism as he discussed matters related to Israel and other topics. In October 2023, just days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Kirk drew controversy after he derided Jewish philanthropy to American universities for “subsidizing your own demise by supporting institutions that breed Anti-Semites and endorse genocidal killers.”

Weeks later on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” he also said that Jewish people control “not just the colleges; it’s the nonprofits, it’s the movies, it’s Hollywood, it’s all of it.”

Some conservatives decried his comments. Erick Erickson, a Christian radio host, posted on X that Turning Point USA was “looking like not just a grifting operation, but an anti-Semitic grifting operation.” Ben Domenech, the editor of The Spectator, wrote that if Kirk remained the head of his organization, “the right has an anti-Semite problem that will follow them into the coming elections.”

The next month, Kirk defended Elon Musk on his show after the tech mogul responded “you have said the actual truth” to a user who had posted a reference to the “Great Replacement” theory, writing that Jews were “coming to the disturbing realization” that immigrants to the United States “don’t exactly like them too much.”

“Now I don’t like generalizations. Not every Jewish person believes that, but it is true the Anti-Defamation League was part and parcel with Black Lives Matter,” said Kirk on his show, later adding that “it is true that some of the largest financiers of left-wing anti-white causes have been Jewish Americans.”

Kirk’s concerns about the erosion of status for white Americans were central to his politics, and he also railed against what he called “Marxism,” efforts to curtail gun rights, and transgender people, about whom he was answering a question when he was shot.

In April 2024, as pro-Palestinian protests spread through American campuses, Kirk backed Republican crackdowns and urged them also to confront what he called “institutional hatred of white people.”

“I’m loving all the GOP unity against Jew hatred. It has no place in America,” wrote Kirk. “Can we get the same unity about the institutional hatred of white people on campus? It’s even more embedded than the antisemitism.”

After Kirk was given a prime time speaking slot at the 2024 Republican National Convention, the Democratic Majority for Israel launched a petition calling on them to rescind their pick over what they called Kirk’s “long record of antisemitic statements.”

In a backgrounder about Turning Point USA from the Anti-Defamation League, the ADL accused Kirk of creating a “vast platform for extremists and far-right conspiracy theorists” and promoting “Christian nationalism.”

Rejecting the criticism, Kirk long framed himself as a defender of the Jews.

“No non-Jewish person my age has a longer or clearer record of support for Israel, sympathy with the Jewish people, or opposition to antisemitism than I do,” he posted on X in April as part of a critique of  David Friedman, the former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, challenging his view of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses. He said he rejected the idea of punishing people for their speech.

“Once ‘antisemitism’ becomes valid grounds to censor or even imprison somebody, there will be frantic efforts to label all kinds of speech as antisemitic — the same way the left labeled all kinds of statements as ‘racist’ to justify silencing their opposition,” he said. “Not only that, but all of this won’t even work.”

In a post on X in August, Kirk called on his supporters to reject antisemitism: “Jew hate has no place in civil society. It rots the brain, reject it.”

Kirk has also frequently defended Israel in its prosecution of the war in Gaza. In July, he posted a segment from his show on X in which he defended the country against allegations that it is starving Palestinians.

Last month, he hosted a discussion with Gen Z Turning Point USA students in which they discussed waning support for Israel among Republicans and rampant antisemitism in the United States.

“As you’ll see, they don’t hate Israel or Jewish people, but they are skeptical about the state of America’s current relationship with the country, and they want to be confident America’s leaders are putting their own country first,” wrote Kirk in a post on X about the discussion. “I have been working hard to help conservative politicians, donors, and friends of Israel better understand this dynamic.”

Kirk is survived by his wife and two young children.

Israeli and pro-Israeli U.S. Jews were among those expressing concern after Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old conservative activist who founded Turning Point USA and emerged as a leading voice of the pro-Trump right, was shot Wednesday during an appearance in Utah.

Kirk was confirmed to have been killed about two hours after the shooting, which occurred around midday as Kirk launched into remarks for his “American Comeback” campus tour at Utah Valley University in Orem. 

Video from the scene showed a single gunshot striking Kirk in the head or neck, causing panic among attendees. He was rushed to a nearby hospital. The FBI said it was assisting in the investigation.

Prominent politicians from both political parties quickly condemned the violence. President Donald Trump, who has counted Kirk as one of his most loyal surrogates, called him “a great guy” and urged supporters to “pray for Charlie.” Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Gov. Spencer Cox also issued statements of support. California gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X:, “The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible. In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in EVERY form.”

Israeli leaders and Jewish activists, some of whom have developed relationships with Kirk through his pro-Israel activism, also reacted with alarm. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on X: “Praying for @charliekirk11.”

Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of Diaspora affairs, wrote: “Praying for Charlie.”

And Shabbos Kestenbaum, a right-wing American Jewish activist, urged his followers: “Please stop what you’re doing and pray for our friend Charlie Kirk. Many in the Jewish community are reciting chapters from the Book of Psalms, and I ask you do the same. Something is deeply broken in America. The political violence must END. GOD HELP AMERICA.”

Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012 while still a teenager. The organization has grown into a powerful platform for conservative youth activism, hosting major conferences and expanding into high schools and churches. Kirk became a regular commentator on Fox News and other right-wing outlets, building a reputation as an outspoken critic of higher education, liberal policies and what he calls “woke culture.”

Kirk’s Turning Point USA has maintained ties with pro-Israel organizations and regularly hosts pro-Israel speakers at its conferences. Kirk himself has traveled to Israel and praised Trump’s policies there, including the 2018 U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem.

This is a developing story.